In recognition of World Water Day on March 22, the Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) renewed its opposition to Enbridge’s Line 5 fossil-fuel pipeline through the Straits of Mackinac.

At the urging of Chris Wahmhoff, the party’s 2014 US Senate candidate, Greens approved a call to decommission the 60-year-old pipeline at a state membership meeting March 14-15 in East Lansing.

GPMI Vice Chair Art Myatt explained the case for decommissioning Line 5 — and against suggestions of repairing or replacing it, much less expanding its capacity — in an entry on the party’s blog.

“There are a lot of scenarios about how disastrous a rupture of Line 5 dumping into the Straits of Mackinac would be. The gist of it is that it would be a disaster spread rapidly into both Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, and impossible to clean up. It’s a really extreme risk for Michigan to take for the benefit of a Canadian pipeline company specifically and for perpetuating the environmentally destructive tar sands energy generally.”

Myatt added, “Enbridge Line 5 is a disaster if it breaks, and a disaster if it works as intended. The way to prevent both disasters is to shut it down. We’ll need to do much more, of course, to use clean energy efficiently and create a fair, sustainable society. Shutting down Enbridge’s Line 5 is an excellent and essential step.”

The party’s 2014 platform also explicitly opposed the pipeline — along with offshore oil drilling, Keystone XL, tar-sands oil, fracking, coal, and biomass. Instead, it recognizes, “We need to *develop renewable energy* such as wind and solar power, in Michigan and nationwide, and *reduce energy use generally*. This would generate clean power and long- and short-term jobs.”

Water is an issue of particular importance to GPMI. Wahmhoff is perhaps best known for spending a day skateboarding in a piece of Enbridge pipe to protest the Kalamazoo River spill. And Detroit Greens have been among the leaders in the People’s Water Board movement to protect city residents’ human right to water.

The next statewide membership meeting of GPMI is scheduled for Saturday, June 6 in Grand Rapids.

GPMI was formed in 1987 to address environmental issues in Michigan politics. Greens are organized in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Each state Green Party sets its own goals and creates its own structure, but US Greens agree on Ten Key Values: